Ben's Story
by Lone Cheese
Summary: Between episodes III and IV. Ben has been a hermit in the wilderness of Tatooine for 5 years. During a visit to town he finds someone he never expected to see again. Obi Siri. Romance humor angst. I DO update, it just takes a while.
1. The Past Back to Life

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars or any of the characters, I'm just writing out what I think should be happening between episodes III and IV. Poor old Ben deserves some happiness in his life, right?

A long time ago in a cantina far, far away… 

**_Chapter 1_:** **_The Past Back to Life_**

Ben Kenobi strode into his favorite Mos Eisley bar ready for a drink after a long morning of errands. He had stashed the supplies inside a hidden compartment in his land-speeder, save for one trinket. As he sat down on an empty stool near the back end of the bar he slid the gadget across the counter and mumbled a drink order. The bartender quickly replaced it with a small bottle in a brown bag. Kenobi calmly shifted his gaze around the bar as he slide the parcel into his robe as the bartender served him a glowing orange drink in a short glass. The contents of the small bottle were strong and very expensive. During his days in the Temple, Kenobi would have never indulged in such a stimulant, but those days were over, and the present times seemed to require such dependencies for the sake of sanity.

Ben began to scan the crowd in hopes that there might be something new to see, though there rarely was. The usual crowd of drunken, and less than credible, beings filled the bar stools or glared from shadowy corners at any passers by. He looked through the crowd, avoiding more than swift eye contact with anyone.

As his eyes scanned past the door the sight of a hooded figure walking in sparked a feeling of familiarity. He only got a glimpse of a feminine face under the hood before the person disappeared into the shadows of the bar. He dismissed the feeling. Nobody he knew or cared about was still alive, save for the twins he had vowed to protect. Still, Ben could not escape the feeling. It was not only in his mind, he sensed it through the force. Suddenly he realized the presence was nearby. He turned his head to see the person now sitting a few stools down. As delicate hands reached up and pulled the hood down from a head full of blonde hair, Ben nearly fell off his stool.

_Siri Tachi?_

Yes, 'twas short. But why not? Suspense for the next chapter.


	2. Searching for Recognition

**Chapter 2: _Searching for Recognition_**

After a double take to be sure, he risked no more glances. He turned his feelings inward and reached out with the calmest vibes he could manage. He searched her presence for recognition. There was nothing. He felt no shielding as if she were being cautious. It was as if he was waving a hand in front of her face with not so much as an eye movement in response. Ben snuck a sideways glance to see her take a sip from the glass in her hand. He decided to try again, this time calling her name through the force.

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Siri Tachi gripped her glass tightly, using all the strength she could without breaking it. This was her punching bag of sorts, for the moment. She had to be subtle so her emotions would not become apparent to those nearby. She was weighing a decision and every choice she had come up with so far contained some sort of fatal flaw. Going back was starting to seem like a good idea, but she had already decided it was time to move on. She was getting a little old for this business and something inside was nagging her to find a more noble way to keep food in her stomach, and maybe even return to the ideals of her upbringing. She suddenly realized that the sensation of someone calling her name was ringing in her head. She couldn't figure where it was coming from; she had not heard it, she had felt it. But how? Where else could it come from? She had no more time to investigate the sensation when she noticed a couple of familiar faces…

Bak and Tatxa, probably the two most incompetent (yet luckiest) slave traders in the system sat in a booth across the room. They argued, as usual, over the pettiest controversies in shipping policies. Siri cringed remembering how many times they had magically succeeded in their endeavors despite the poor judgment both of them displayed. She wasn't worried that they would catch her, or that they were looking for her at all. None the less, she didn't want to be seen by them. Such stupidity also breads diarrhea of the mouth, and the last thing Siri needed was any hint of her whereabouts making its way back to San. On top of leaving the business with no warning, Siri had purposely dropped her last load for San off at Naboo, a planet with no slave trade. Though she wouldn't have wanted to return to the place of her last Jedi mission otherwise, it was the best place to set a load of slaves free.

Siri turned back to her drink. She wanted to get out of the cantina quickly, so as to not be seen, but she couldn't rush out. Blending in would accomplish her goal better. She would take her time. Once she'd finished off the last drop of her drink, she stole a quick glance at the pair. They were involved, as usual, in one of their pointless, drunken debates. Siri slipped through the crowd towards the door undetected.

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Ben watched as Siri stepped into the Tatooine sun and disappeared. After stashing the bag in his robe and downing one more shot, he followed suit.

The dusty street was crowded, despite the heat of the Tatooine midday. Sight of Siri was already lost in the chaos, but through the force, Ben found her just in time to see her slip into a shaded alleyway.

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Glad to be out of the intense sun and out of sight, Siri slowed her pace and strolled towards the back of the alley. She hoped, at the end of the alley, to find a maze of alleyways like she normally saw in cities of this type. As she turned the corner she found what she had hoped, and the area was void of life as far as she could see. She walked down a ways, leaned against a wall, and pulled out a small, glowing orange stick. Siri hadn't been particularly fond of death stick habits when she left the order. Teachings included the idea that one's body was a place for the force rather than addictive toxins. In the slave trade, however, these little glowing miracles were a way to deal with stress and fit in with the rough characters she encountered in the trade. Just as she lifted the stick back for a second drag a quietly booming voice broke into her thoughts.

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"You know those things are bad for you, right?" Siri turned with a start and threw her hands up in defensive position as she faced the man who had spoken. She found herself looking straight into the most piercing blue eyes she'd ever seen. Neither of them moved for a few minutes. The man stood with his arms to his side and an almost sympathetic look in his eyes. Siri kept her guard hands up, waiting for his attempt to drag her off and turn her in for the reward that was undoubtedly on her head by now. Still, he did not move.

She suddenly realized his eyes were not the only things she was feeling the piercing affects of. In her spirit she again sensed the same presence she had in the cantina. Again it was searching for returned recognition. She lent it none. A hint of the presence remained, still searching, as he spoke.

"Siri…" He reached out for her and she responded with a move even she was surprised with. Unintentionally reverting to the backup hand-to-hand skills of her training at the temple, she pushed his arm aside and moved to strike him in the stomach.

At that moment he tensed his abs and her fist ran into a nearly solid wall of muscle. This seemed a well-known defense for those with the reflexes and physic to pull it off, but he continued into a move that was very obviously not. In a manner so perfectly like the skill she had been trained, he grabbed her firmly by the forearm, pulled her towards himself and placed a flat hand against her shoulder. As she fell backwards, she heard him mumble, "Relax."


	3. Runaway

Chapter 3: Runaway 

Ben barely caught Siri as she fell unconsciously towards the ground.

"Blast! Too much." He sat her down softly in the dirt and picked up the deathstick she had dropped when he startled her. "Terrible habit," he took a quick drag then flicked it down the alley. He would have worried about how bad it might look to be hovering over an unconscious woman's body in a shaded alleyway, but anybody around here would be more likely to congratulate him than turn him in to the authorities (if any could be found).

Daylight hours were waning, which meant Ben's widow of time for traveling home was too. He couldn't wait around for Siri to wake up and attack him again, nor could he leave her for an alley-wandering pervert to discover. Just then a pair of Storm Troopers turned into the back alley. Only when they were not needed, did the rarely present law enforcement come out.

"What's going on back here?"

"Nothing. She's not used to this heat. We're just traveling through." Kenobi stood slowly, glancing down for any signs that Siri might wake up.

"You're together?" One of the troopers stepped forward to take a closer look at the unconscious female laid out in the dirt.

"She's my… wife."

"Do you have proof of relation?"

Ben passed his hand in front of the Storm Trooper's face. "You don't need any proof."

"We don't need any proof."

"I am free to travel on."

"You are free to travel on."

With the troopers convinced, Kenobi lifted Siri from the ground, cradling her like a sleeping child and carried her back up the alley and across the street where his speeder was parked.

The ride home proved difficult with an unconscious woman sharing his seat. Ben had to keep her relaxed through the force and balance her limp frame without losing control of the small, one-man speeder. It would be hard enough to explain why he had taken her along. If she woke up and started fighting back while he was driving, the results could be disastrous.

When he arrived home, he put her in his bed and covered her up. She looked so peaceful now. Mind tricks may only work on the weak minded, but relaxation would work on even a trained Jedi, at least one who wasn't prepared for it. Ben made himself a modest sleeping arrangement on the floor of his kitchen area. After a small meal of unheated leftovers and a bit of meditation, he settled down for a restless sleep.

Siri drifted awake to the sound of the wind outside. When she was fully conscious she opened her eyes to nothing but darkness. It took a moment for the memories of the man in the alley to come back to her. How did he know that relaxation technique? It was not taught outside of the temple, and all of the Jedi had been killed off in the war. Maybe he was one who had escaped and gone into bounty hunting as a new living. Whatever he was, she didn't want to hang around and leave him a chance to collect a reward. She obviously wasn't on a ship. There were no sounds of air vents or running engines. Unless she had been asleep a long time, or they had traveled quickly, the howl of the wind was evidence of the harsh Tatooine desert outside. Scanning her dark surroundings, she finally spotted a vague hint of light across the room. She groped her way through the darkness towards it and found the entryway. She was in a cave. The sand outside was blowing around a bit, but it wasn't as bad as she had feared from the sound of the wind. This wouldn't be a pleasant walk. She covered her face and wrapped her cloak a bit tighter. Tatooine nights could be as frozen as its days were scorching.

Ben woke from another depressing dream portraying scenes from his past. It had become his usual sleeping pattern, though this one was different from the usual about Master Qui Gon, Anakin, and the death of Padme. He had traveled back to the day Siri left the order. It started semi-pleasantly, with their last conversation. It then quickly turned to the usual tone when he found out from her master about the quarrel and Siri's exit. In the dream he could see her getting on the transport, as he had not gotten to in real life. Then the day she came back and her slave trade conquests were revealed, followed by the day she left again in response to news that a new leader had risen to build the slave trade back up.

Suddenly he was aware that she had managed another exit. She was no longer in his bed where he'd placed her.

"Blast!" Always the strong willed one, she must have taken off. He needed to get a door for this place. The Tatooine desert was the most terrible place to be at this hour. Ben grabbed his robe and light saber and charged out into the blowing sand.


	4. Close call

Chapter 4

As Siri reached the top of a large hill, she noticed a few flickers of light in the valley. Finally, civilization. She squinted, looking through the darkness and harsh sand-filled wind to make out any building shapes. Only the lights were visible at this distance, at least with the lack of visibility on this night.

Soon the wind calmed down and she got close enough to tell there weren't any buildings at all, she was approaching a camp. Fortunately, it wasn't a Tusken Raider camp, but neither was it one she recognized. She approached the camp cautiously. So far she couldn't see any guards. She came up behind a tent on the outskirts and edged around it to see if there were people about. Just then a man came walking through the tents toward where she was. Siri scrambled around to the other side, where she bumped right into another man.

"Heeeey, watch it," he said, in a surprisingly laid back tone, "why so much hurrying around? Take it easy. Have a greenstick." He held out a little stick about the size and shape of a deathstick, but with green, swirling contents.

"Sure, why not?" Siri accepted the questionable offer and played along. Obviously this guy didn't know, or didn't care, that she had actually wandered in from the outside. When she took a drag from the greenstick she immediately felt the effects. For a moment she felt a bit worried that the drug might be too strong, but the feeling quickly faded. By the third drag, all inhibition had left her.

A few minutes later, the man from earlier appeared in front of her new companion and began lecturing him on assorted offences, which all just sounded really silly to Siri at the moment. She began to giggle, and as she opened her mouth to comment, the man turned to confront her.

"Who are you?"

Siri began to giggle some more.

He grabbed Siri by her shirt and began to drag her into the camp. Over his shoulder he yelled a threat for later, to the other man.

Siri stumbled lazily as the man pulled her through the maze of tents and campfires. Soon they came upon a larger tent, guarded all around by men with blasters. Siri's captor spoke quickly with one by the door. Once given the go-ahead, he shoved Siri through the small doorflap ahead of him.

"Look what I found hanging around with greenstick Bob."

Siri waved stupidly at the silhouettes in the middle of the dimly lit tent. They were gathered around a hologram of maps and charts.

"Out for a walk, Miss Tachi?" The man in the center rose and walked around to where Siri slouched in her captor's tight grip.

"Well, I thought it was such a lovely evening; I just had to get out and enjoy the desert breeze."

Tsur laughed. "Cute. She always has a response." He moved closer to Siri, "but what will you have to say to Krayn? I hear tell that he's not sure he can restrain himself from killing you long enough to send you where you really belong." He was obviously waiting for Siri to ask where it was he thought she really belonged, but she refused to participate in his little game of dialog.

"He thinks the mines would suit you best."

Siri cringed at the thought. She'd dealt with the mines on Kessel enough to know a worker there was in pure hell.

"No matter your fate Miss Tachi, you'll be making me a great deal of money. Krayn just raised the reward. He's very determined, and angrier than a shaved wookie. Tsur ordered his men to take Siri to a holding tent. As they dragged her out the door, Tsur had one last word.

"Miss Tachi, thank you for making it so easy."

In response, Siri tripped her captor and twisted out of his grip. His blaster fell to the ground and she pulled it to her with the force. After shooting him in the side she ran at Tsur. Right before she reached him she sensed a man approaching from one side. She moved her hand to push him aside, but her recently recovered skills were still not completely reliable. Her pause was all Tsur needed to grab the blaster out of her hand and bring her to her knees with it pressed against her temple.

"I'm not sure you're worth the trouble." Tsur growled.

"She's not."

Siri looked up to see the mysterious man from whose cave she'd already escaped.

"Let her go."

"Who are you?" Tsur demanded.

"Nevermind that. You will let her go," the man said with a wave of his hand. Tsurs grip loosened and Siri felt the blaster barrel drop from her temple.

"Well, that went better than expected," the man walked up to Tsur and plucked the blaster from his hand. "Thank you."

Siri took the hand he offered. As soon as he had pulled Siri to her feed he placed the blaster in her hand and flashed a wry smile.

"I figured you would rather be armed."

In all her memories of this man came rushing back and she knew where she recognized him from. "Obi wan?"

He pulled up the hood of his cloak and turned to grab her arm.

"Ben." I'll explain later He sent through the force.

Siri followed Obi wan outside the tent. The guards by the door were already unconscious.

"Good job." Siri said, looking around.

Obi wan glanced back at his handy work.

"Thanks. We must hurry. The storm passed quickly, but I can feel another on the way."


	5. Morning

_**Chapter 5: Morning**_

When they reached the cave, Ben suggested that Siri get some sleep before they talked about anything. Siri agreed. She was too tired to process any new information anyway. Ben insisted that Siri take his bed. She objected, but only halfheartedly. She knew that if Ben was anything like she remembered him, arguing would be pointless.

Siri woke to a strangely appetizing smell and the sound of pleasant mumbling from the other side of the cave. She rolled over and stretched, trying to remember where she was. Siri sat up and saw Ben cooking breakfast at his make-shift stove. Then the events from the night before came rushing back.

Now she had a lot of questions, but breakfast was smelling really good. The questions could wait. Siri swung her feet over onto the stone floor and shivered as the heat rushed from her legs. She tip-toed on the stone flood as if across hot coals. When she got closer, Siri realized that Kenobi was talking to himself. He appeared to be hosting his own imaginary cooking show. She giggled and Kenobi froze.

He turned around slowly to face Siri, who smiled up at him with feigned innocence.

"Goodmorning," she said.

"Goodmorning." Kenobi tried to straighten up for a moment, but Siri's smile got to him. He let out a sigh and they both broke into laughter.

When they had finally caught their breath Kenobi sniffed the air and hurried back to his cooking.

"A little burnt, but not too bad," he said, checking the underside of a large, double-yolked egg. "Have a seat, breakfast is ready."

Siri sat down on a dirty white folding chair, definitely the kind stored in ship closets for in-flight card games and holo chess. An old panel of durasteel lay across four broken stalagmites, serving as a table.

"Ben, I'm sorry I was so difficult yesterday," said Siri.

"It's okay. I can't imagine I'm very easy to recognize after all these years," said Kenobi.

"I guess you're just the last person I expected to see out here. What have you been up to all these years?" said Siri.

"I've been here, surviving," said Kenobi, flipping the burnt egg onto a platter full of meat and eggs.

"Tatooine, all these years?" said Siri.

"I've gotten used to it." Ben turned to serve Siri some meat and eggs. "What have you been doing? Just getting yourself into trouble it seems."

"Well, yes, but I had a really good thing going for a while. When I found out that Krayn rebuilt the slave trade, I found my way back in. Nobody had figured out that I had been the downfall of the previous trade, so it as pretty easy."

"You're sneaky." Kenobi smiled and sat down with his own plate of food.

"I try. Though I can't imagine that's the lesson the council meant to teach me when they sent me on my trials." Siri said.

"I guess the force was preparing you for the future." Kenobi reasoned.

Siri paused and tilted her head. "Yeah, I guess so." Siri laughed. "You always could find the force in anything."

"Well, it is in everything," said Kenobi.

Siri glared up at Kenobi. "You were always a smart ass too."

Kenobi shrugged and cut into his egg.

After a moment Kenobi spoke, "Are you ready to experience an exciting day in the life of Ben Kenobi?"

"Sure," said Siri. "What's first?"

Kenobi only smiled and took a bite of his egg.


End file.
